As a comparative analysis of teacher preparation in its sociohistorical contexts, this study examines the official educational aims and curricula of 49 mathematics teacher preparation programs in South Korea and the United States, where substantial differences have been observed in both student achievement and teacher knowledge. Overall, the findings from this study suggest that transnational commonalities and national differences exist simultaneously in social expectations for teacher knowledge. The authors argue that attending to both "culturally contextualized" and "semantically decontextualized" dimensions helps us have a more balanced comparative perspective from which we can better assess current conditions of teacher education. Constructive international dialogue can be facilitated by such a balanced perspective that may further enrich teacher education without ignoring either profound differences in sociohistorical contexts or important commonalities in epistemic models of teacher education across countries. (Contains 2 notes, 4 tables, and 1 figure.)